News

Grown man fakes birth certificate to attend Michigan high school

James Nash reportedly has been kicked out of Mt. Pleasant High School under allegations that he's a 21-year-old man and not eligible to compete at the high school level. (Courtesy of themorningsun.com)

MICHIGAN- A grown man has reportedly been booted out of a central Michigan high school after it was discovered he faked documents to lie about his age.

According to The Morning Sun, 21-year-old James Nash, who is African-American, allegedly forged a birth certificate using the alias Javier Jones. While he attended Mt. Pleasant High School, since the beginning of the 2012-13 school year, he played on the varsity football team and planned to play basketball this winter.

Nash claimed he was a 17-year-old senior who was seeking a transfer from a school in Lansing. It appears he may have been seeking one last opportunity to shine on the field.

The school was only alerted to the scam when an anonymous parent tipped them off. “I received an anonymous tip from a parent, it was an adult that had a conscience, that said you better check this,” Mt. Pleasant High School athletic director Jim Conway told The Morning Sun.

“So earlier this week we dug up his file, the police became involved (and) all the school officials, and found documents had been altered and forged. There was a couple days of investigation, looking into that and what we have found is this individual is not the individual that was on the transcript,” Conway added.

The high school’s football team is likely to have to forfeit some late-season victories in games Nash competed. The 21-year-old was kicked out of the school last Thursday.

Under state rules, a student isn’t eligible to play high school sports if he or she is 19 before September 1st. Police are also investigating a report of a falsified document.